The Co-op College held its final AGM in June before the winding down forced by its unsustainable financial situation.
The demise of the iconic co-op institution cast a shadow over opening remarks from chair Chris Jardine, who offered a summary of the College’s achievements over the past 12 months, noting: “It was an incredibly busy year with a significant amount of impact made”.
Actions included presentations to an audience of more than 800 cooperators at the invitation of Climbs Life and General Insurance Cooperative in the Philippines, contributions to global co-operative learning and solidarity during the International Year of Cooperatives, and a co-op learning session at the Gathering, the UK’s largest free voluntary and charity sector event.
The College also launched a national advocacy campaign for co-ops in the curriculum, in partnership with the Co-operative Party and Co-operatives UK, added Jardine, “positioning the college as the voice of the UK co-operative movement on educational value and outcomes of co-operative learning”.
The College also provided “international thought leadership” at the International Cooperative Alliance Global Cooperative Conference in New Delhi, attended UK government events dealing with plans to grow the co-op sector, and supported the establishment and launch of the Fund for International Cooperative Development.
“This was on top of the huge shift being put in by our colleagues in terms of our legacy and grant giving work,” said Jardine, who thanked colleagues, members, trustees and new era partners Co-operatives UK, Co-op News, and the Co-operative Heritage Trust.
Related: Inside the final years at Co-operative College
College CEO Jacqui Thomasen shared a financial update from the year in question, which ended the organisation’s three-year strategy whose goals included the delivery of financial sustainability.
“That, unfortunately, is the one thing that we didn’t achieve in the period in question,” she said, “which was what brought us to … the position which we’re now in, which is voluntary winding up and distribution.”
Over the year, income fell overall, said Thomasen, with a number of contributing factors including the loss of the partnership with the University of Dundee.
There were also knock-on effects from some events across the wider sector which brought delays on securing programmes and learning delivery with bigger partners, added Thomasen.
“I think it’s probably fair to say that the uncertainty of our position during the last year … did mean that there was less confidence in our ability to deliver over the longer term, so that also hit our bottom line somewhat.”
Meanwhile, membership continued to fall, although the decline had slowed.
Expenditure also fell, said Thomasen, with work delivered in-house and efforts to make better use of people and resources; but certain expenditure rose, “which is basically accounted for by the dual nature of operating the business as usual alongside significant transition process”.
The overall deficit for the year was £320,407, with the balance sheet closing with assets of just over £1.1m.
Jardine then gave an update on the voluntary wind-up process, telling members: “The Co-op Foundation’s board has approved progression of the provisional partnership proposal, and the board has identified several themes for further development, and as a membership body ourselves and an infrastructure body for the co-operative movement.
“We’ll shortly be seeking your input through a survey designed to maximise participation and help shape the future grant-giving model.”
